- Joined
- July 31, 2007
- Messages
- 6,378
For some time I've been dealing with a quandary over how does one spend ones time.
I've spent most of the free time I have split between either gaming/movies/books or talking with friends about those same subjects.
And looking back over all the time I've spent, I can honestly say that only about 10% of those were really worth it. When I say worth it, I mean something that truly makes you think, that truly makes you appreciate the medium, that flips your reality and makes you question stuff in real life.
I've also been into software engineering for most of my young adult life, and have always had difficulty balancing either learning new tech stuff or just gaming/movies/entertainment. I love programming, and I also love the entertainment. But looking over all of it, from a simple pragmatic point of view, my time would be way better spent learning new stuff, and developing as a software developer. But then again, I also love the entertainment side.
I've also recently re-started to train and work on my physical condition. And have found new pleasure in that. Not nearly as much as in programming/gaming/movies, but this one really is a must in my field of activity, where exercise is a rare activity. So basically I'm doing it mostly to make sure I can do the other stuff I like.
Anyway, I've recently been thinking (again, since I've had these thoughts before) of giving up this entertainment and trying to get all my pleasure out of something that's also really constructive and beneficial to me, both professionally and health-wise. And since I love doing it, it would also serve as entertainment in some way.
As I said, I've had these thoughts a couple of times while playing different games, but it really struck me right after finishing the main campaign in D3 Reaper of Souls, where you can start in adventure mode, and just go on endless dungeon runs for items. I just stopped and thought what the hell am I doing. I could be spending this time to better myself in something a lot more constructive.
I know I won't give up gaming/entertainment forever, but I think I'm gonna try and give it up for 1-2 years, see how it goes. I also thought about putting gaming/entertainment on a full pause for like 10 years, and then come back into it, and this way time would have filtered all that's not even worth playing, and I'd just have 4-5 titles which would really be worth it.
And I'm mentioning gaming a lot in this thread because I do believe that games have a bigger time investment cost burnt into them, compared to other forms of entertainment. At least the way I like to play them, in that I like to get fully immersed and drain every last drop of lore/story/etc from them. So they tend to be story-driven experiences that really require multiple play sessions, in multiple fashions etc.
What do you guys/girls think? Anyone with a similar problem?
I've spent most of the free time I have split between either gaming/movies/books or talking with friends about those same subjects.
And looking back over all the time I've spent, I can honestly say that only about 10% of those were really worth it. When I say worth it, I mean something that truly makes you think, that truly makes you appreciate the medium, that flips your reality and makes you question stuff in real life.
I've also been into software engineering for most of my young adult life, and have always had difficulty balancing either learning new tech stuff or just gaming/movies/entertainment. I love programming, and I also love the entertainment. But looking over all of it, from a simple pragmatic point of view, my time would be way better spent learning new stuff, and developing as a software developer. But then again, I also love the entertainment side.
I've also recently re-started to train and work on my physical condition. And have found new pleasure in that. Not nearly as much as in programming/gaming/movies, but this one really is a must in my field of activity, where exercise is a rare activity. So basically I'm doing it mostly to make sure I can do the other stuff I like.
Anyway, I've recently been thinking (again, since I've had these thoughts before) of giving up this entertainment and trying to get all my pleasure out of something that's also really constructive and beneficial to me, both professionally and health-wise. And since I love doing it, it would also serve as entertainment in some way.
As I said, I've had these thoughts a couple of times while playing different games, but it really struck me right after finishing the main campaign in D3 Reaper of Souls, where you can start in adventure mode, and just go on endless dungeon runs for items. I just stopped and thought what the hell am I doing. I could be spending this time to better myself in something a lot more constructive.
I know I won't give up gaming/entertainment forever, but I think I'm gonna try and give it up for 1-2 years, see how it goes. I also thought about putting gaming/entertainment on a full pause for like 10 years, and then come back into it, and this way time would have filtered all that's not even worth playing, and I'd just have 4-5 titles which would really be worth it.
And I'm mentioning gaming a lot in this thread because I do believe that games have a bigger time investment cost burnt into them, compared to other forms of entertainment. At least the way I like to play them, in that I like to get fully immersed and drain every last drop of lore/story/etc from them. So they tend to be story-driven experiences that really require multiple play sessions, in multiple fashions etc.
What do you guys/girls think? Anyone with a similar problem?
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2007
- Messages
- 6,378